3 Scrappy Resolutions You Should Make (and Keep) in 2017

You may be thinking, “Oh gee. Another post about New Year’s Resolutions?” But bear with me. Today I’d like to share with you a few ideas for scrapbooking goals we can set for ourselves that will helps us make our hobby more efficient, economical, and downright fun. If you incorporate these three ideas into your scrappy habits, I believe you’ll become a memory-making machine, and best of all, you’ll be the happiest scrapbooker on the block. What are the three resolutions? Read on…

1. Go Stash-diving. We’ve all done it. We buy more supplies than we actually need, and before we know it, we have enough pretty paper, ribbons, and sundries to scrapbook well past the Zombie Apocolypse. What is it about shiny new things that makes them such a siren call to crafters? Well, how about this year, instead of setting a vague “I’d like to use more of my stash” resolution, we make it a more actionable goal? Let’s resolve to make 12 layouts (that’s one per month for anyone doing the math) completely out of supplies from our stash. That’s doable right? Sure it is. But just in case you need some ideas or inspiration for stash layouts, check out my series Scraps and Stash. There’s plenty there to keep you going strong all year long.

2. Join a Community. We love talking to others about our hobby. But I can be hard to find friends in our immediate circle who care as much about memory-keeping as we do. Solution? Find a community of like-minded crafters on the internet, and make some new, virtual friends. Even an introvert like me can enjoy connecting with people this way, sharing ideas, frustrations, and accomplishments. There are any number of amazing communities already going strong on FaceBook. A simple search for “scrapbooking” will turn up tons. But my favorite community by far is the ScrapGals group, founded by Tracie Claiborne and Tiffani Lowder. It’s a bustling, thriving, POSITIVE group of enthusiastic crafters, and they welcome newbies with open arms.

3. Print Your Photos. This may seem to go without saying, but all too often, we inundate ourselves with everyday images, and they tend to languish on our memory cards or smart devices for far too long. Set a goal to download your photos once a week (how about every Sunday night?), and to print the best ones once per month or even once per quarter. This way, you’ll never lack for photos to scrap, and you won’t have to worry about losing your precious memories to a hardware crash. (Tip: Try Shutterfly. They offer great quality prints, and they often run sales or offer discount codes)

So, there you have it. Three simple ideas for resolutions for this new year. Notice how none of them had to do with page count or being “caught up?” I’d love to hear how you’re progressing. Whether you adopt these exact scrappy goals for yourself or come up with some of your own, come and talk about it in our FaceBook group, My Kreative Pursuits. I can’t wait to see how you make 2017 your year!